Some platinum based drugs are known to have useful antitumor activity. However, such drugs are also known to have various drawbacks. For example, cisplatin is one such drug with a significant level of activity, but which also exhibits significant nephrotoxicity. Other platinum drugs have been synthesized which have less potential to cause renal injury, but many of these drugs are much less soluble in water than is desirable.
A long standing need exists for platinum drugs which will have improved aqueous solubility and antitumor activity, a broader spectrum of activity against various neoplastic disease states, and also a lack of cross resistance to other antitumor drugs such as cisplatin.